A KENT businessman faces up to seven years in jail after being convicted of aiding and abetting bigamy.

Curry house owner Bajilu Khan, 41, of Hawthorne Avenue, Canterbury, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court where he admitted helping Karen Kennedy to go through a form of marriage with Quddus Abdul while her husband was alive.

He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge and is now awaiting sentence.

When the Kentish Gazette newspaper attempted to contact Khan at his home there was no answer, although his Mercedes, with a personalised number plate, was outside.

He is the owner of the Khan Tandoori Restaurant in Herne Bay.

When Khan appeared at court in December he denied another similar allegation which Judge Adele Williams directed be left on the court’s file.

Kennedy, 42, has already admitted two bigamy charges committed on July 12 and November 6, 2002, and is on bail.

This week, Kennedy claimed her life was in

ruins. The 44-year-old housewife said that she had become the victim of a hate campaign and was now ostracised.

Mrs Kennedy decided to break her silence after finding her pet Siamese cat O’Malley dead by the roadside and her car wrecked by vandals last weekend.

She said: “I used to play darts for a local pub but they say they don’t want to know me.

“My neighbours don’t speak to me, and someone shouted abuse at me in the street the other day.”

“At the weekend I found my car wrecked by vandals. Nothing was stolen.”

But Mrs Kennedy, from Herne Bay, believes that she has still to face the most traumatic time of her life when she goes back to court.

She said: “I have been told I face a custodial sentence. I am prepared for my punishment because I know I did something wrong. But, despite everything, I believe in the sanctity of marriage.”

She believes her imprisonment would jeopardise her 62-year-old husband Noel’s health as a chronic diabetic. She stressed: “He has become a victim of this as much as I have. We have been married 14 years and we need each other.”

Both defendants will be sentenced on May 28.